Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, right, U.S. astronaut Thomas Marshburn, centre, and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko speak with relatives after putting on their space suits at the Baikonur cosmodrome before the launch of their mission to the International Space Station on Dec. 19, 2012. (Shamil Zhumatov/REUTERS)

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, right, U.S. astronaut Thomas Marshburn, centre, and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko speak with relatives after putting on their space suits at the Baikonur cosmodrome before the launch of their mission to the International Space Station on Dec. 19, 2012.(Shamil Zhumatov/REUTERS)

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield launches into space on five-month mission
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The latest Canadian to go to space has successfully lifted off on a Russian spacecraft.

For the first dozen minutes after a flawless liftoff from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Chris Hadfield and the other crew members could be seen from a video inside their Soyuz capsule, clutching their checklists and poking at controls with metal wands, waving at the camera and giving thumbs up signs.

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Mission control said the launch was “nominal” and inside the cabin, Mr. Hadfield let go of his pen and it floated, cartwheeling when touched by his gloved fingertip.

Mr. Hadfield, Tom Mashburn, an American physician, and Roman Romanenko, a Russian Air Force officer, will now head to the International Space Station, where they will remain until May.

The trio won’t dock at the ISS until Friday, after checking the systems on their Soyuz and gradually nudging themselves into the proper orbit.

For the next five months they will become the latest crew to look after the orbital outpost and conduct scientific experiments.

The station is now home to mission commander Kevin Ford, a U.S. astronaut, and two Russian flight engineers, Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin.

By March, when Mr. Ford’s crew will rotate home and be replaced with three other space travellers, Mr. Hadfield will take over command of the ISS, the first Canadian to assume that leadership role in an orbital mission.

"I have devoted pretty much my whole adult life ... to getting to this position where someone would trust me to command what is, in effect, the world's space ship," Mr. Hadfield said in a recent Skype interview with The Globe and Mail. "It is both an enormous thrill and a great challenge to be asked to do this."